Anna and Em holding up protein berry smoothies

How to Make a Nutritionally Balanced Smoothie

ByAnna + Em

BUILDING A BALANCED SMOOTHIE

A smoothie can be a brilliant snack, recovery ‘meal’ or addition to any main meal.  If however, you want to make the smoothie the main event, it is not just a matter of throwing some milk and berries into a blender and ‘voila!’ – for a truly balanced, nutritious and healthy smoothie, you need to tick a few boxes to ensure that you are getting all of the important macronutrients…

  1. Choose a Liquid Base:

Water, coconut water or your choice of milk

  1. Add your Complex carbs

¼ cup of any: soaked oats, 1/2 banana, steamed and frozen pumpkin or sweet potato, soaked buckwheat

  1. Add in Protein

Yoghurt, raw egg, silken tofu or SSH protein powder

  1. Time for some good fats

Nuts/ nut butter, avocado, chia seeds, flax seeds (ground), hemp seeds, seed butter (like tahini), unrefined seed or nut oils

  1. Add in some leafy greens (optional but so good for you, nutritionally!)

Baby spinach, kale, silverbeet, leafy lettuce varieties (oak, cos etc),

  1. Add a good serve (or more) of veg

Frozen zucchini, green peas, steamed (cooled, then frozen) cauliflower, broccoli, steamed (cooled, then frozen) sweet potato or pumpkin, cucumber, celery etc.. no need to double up if you used one of these above.

  1. Now for a serve of fruit (optional, but will add sweetness to the smoothie – limit to 1 serve per person)

We like to stick to low sugar fruits like frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries etc), lemon, lime, orange, green apple, kiwifruit, but if you love stonefruit, banana, mango, passionfruit, feel free to add them, just keep them in moderation…

  1. Now… give it a Boost (optional):

Cacao powder, collagen, coconut, herbs and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh mint, coriander etc.), LSA or maca powder,

If you didn’t use any frozen fruit or veg, you might want to add in some ice cubes, before blending, to make the smoothie nice & cold….

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE COMBOS:

  1. Oats, yoghurt, tahini, silverbeet, zucchini, cauli, banana and cinnamon
  2. Water, quinoa, natural protein powder, avocado, kale, zucchini, lime, kiwifruit, fresh mint
  3. Milk, frozen sweet potato, vanilla protein, chia seeds, peanut butter, spinach, cauli, banana, cinnamon, nutmeg
  4. Water, berries, green peas, zucchini, ground chia and flax, protein powder and fresh mint.

Experiment and find your favourite combo, by using the guidelines above – especially if making the smoothie your main meal.

Have a little fun and let us know how you go?

Anna & Em xo

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ByAnna + Em

While the jury is out on whether we should all completely quit sugar, the benefits of reducing our consumption of the sweet stuff are innumerable. While we might not be sucking down a serve (or more) of soft drink each day – most of us are eating more sugar than we realise – even in our “healthy” foods. Why not try these four super easy hacks to reduce sugar intake day-to-day. You’ll see just how simple this low sugar life can be.